MakeSense Mexico exceeded my expectations beyond what I could hope for. I had many worries about being far away from home and was not confident in my leadership abilities because of the language and cultural barrier. Although I identify as Mexican-American I know that there are many cultural differences. For example, there are many location-specific challenges that the people of Mexico City face, that those in the United States don't. When thinking about social change and leadership, this is something I was constantly thinking about. How could I an outsider gain trust in a new community and help mobilize communities? While this was a difficult task, with the mentorship of the MakeSense team, my team and I were able to go above and beyond and challenge ourselves in the best way possible. 

The organization my team and I were working in is called IRRI. IRRI stands for The International Institute of Renewable Resources AC (IRRI).  They're a non-profit Mexican organization, aiming to develop more accessible and sustainable eco-technologies in Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean. They have four subgroup division programs; water security, food security, energy security, and education all dedicated to the goal of sustainable development for countries. 

Week one was our inspiration week, I was truly thankful for the Mazahua community visit. The workshop on the importance of empathizing. Especially having community leaders from the Mazahua community give us lectures and teach us how we could aid their community. This is truly important for me as I aim to be a leader through a social justice perspective. 

I would like to highlight the training and important dialogue and discussions we had around the concept of informed consent. It was an extremely important topic for me not only ethnically but morally. I wanted to respect and treat the communities that were receiving us with humanity and care. 

Week 2 was highly focused on networking and getting to know the amazing group of scholars I was surrounded with. The two-day leadership camp in Las Estacas was filled with many challenges, both physically, intellectually, and emotionally. 

From being split into different groups and having to build a raft from scratch and complete different physical challenges to sharing leadership stories. As scholars, we were learning from each other and helping one another grow in the most fruitful way possible.